Child of Spring: Jamie's Ghost & UFO Hunting Adventures
by The Forgetful Bel
Summary: Set in the world of my other ROTG fic, Child of Spring. If you haven't read that, this one won't make much sense as it has OCs from there. The year is 2022 and Jamie is now around 18 years old. Still extremely interested in the paranormal, Jamie decides to go on some investigations himself. His first stop is the old Parker house, rumored to be haunted. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1: The Old Parker House

Author's Note: Like the story description says, if you haven't read Child of Spring (my other ROTG story), this story probably won't make much sense to you. That said, here's Chapter One, which is actually Interlude 6 of Child of Spring. I just thought I'd post it here, as it's part of the story.

Chapter One: The Old Parker House

It had been almost a decade since that fateful year that Pitch Black had gone (more) evil and tried to vanquish belief once and for all. Jamie Bennett had many adventures with one of his best friends, Jack Frost, as well as all the Guardians. Jamie always had the light of belief in his eyes, since he had met the Guardians themselves when he was at an impressionable age, and the memories stayed strong.

It had been hard for him when he grew older than Jack, and it was surreal for him that Lillian, the little spring spirit, would always look like she was six years old. Jamie still liked playing around with Jack and he was still up for a snowball fight as he was when he was a kid.

Although lately, he had started to get even more interested in the paranormal and had even decided to start up his own little paranormal investigation group. Thankfully digital recorders were pretty cheap, as were digital thermometers and emf detectors. His mom wasn't interested in donating to his funds, so he did what any teenager would do, he got a job.

Washing dishes wasn't all that it's cracked up to be, and he was a little annoyed when Lillian decided to follow him to work one day. He had a hard time explaining where all the spring flowers came from, and when Jack turned up at Pitch's request to fetch Lillian, he had no explanations on the suddenly frozen dish water, or why that patch of ice happened to appear under that waiter.

Nope, none at all.

But thankfully his manager didn't blame him for all these mishaps, so he was able to fund his ghost hunting hobby all by himself. Well, ghost hunting/UFO hobby.

They _were_ out there.

Why, Burgess had even gotten some crop circles out in the country near the town! It was a sign!

Jamie huffed in annoyance as he thought of it.

Yeah, a sign that Jack and Lillian were bored.

Those two and their pranks!

But now Jamie was all set. He had a digital recorder, digital thermometer and an emf detector. He was all set to record ghostly voices and detect unusual cold spots and high emf!

He even had a house to investigate, which was a super creepy house that was abandoned. It was rumored to be haunted and that the last owner had died sometime in the 90s, which was _forever_ ago.

Jamie had tried to get some of his friends to come along, and they had gone on many adventures in the past, but his friends tended to roll their eyes at things like ghosts and UFOs. Tell them about a new Seasonal spirit or one of the Guardians and they were all ears, but everything else? Nope.

Jamie had also wanted a mini-camcorder, but that was beyond his budget, so he was reduced to taking photos and videos from his phone. The quality was pretty good, but he knew that ghosts tended to drain the batteries on things and hoped that this wouldn't be the case for him.

So it was with excitement and a little trepidation that he walked up to the dilapidated house, that had rotting porch steps. He carefully picked his way around the holes in the boards and stood in front of the front door. The screen door was practically falling off its hinges and was dangling crookedly from its frame.

Just for the fun of it, Jamie rang the doorbell.

 **DING**

 **DING**

 **DING**

Jamie shook his head with a smile at the clearly broken bell. He turned on his digital recorder and spoke into it.

"This is Jamie Bennett at the old Parker house, 11:59pm. So far all is quiet, except for the broken doorbell."

He clicked off the recorder and thought for a moment how silly this was. Here he was in the middle of the night talking into a digital recorder while he was planning to investigate some moldering old house that hadn't been occupied in _decades_.

But then he thought of collecting _actual evidence_ of a ghost.. an actual ghost! And his excitement took over. He opened the door, which wasn't locked and wandered inside.

He clicked his digital recorder back on tucked it into his back pocket while he dug out his flashlight. He clicked it on and wandered around the living room.

"This is Jamie Bennett in the living room of the old Parker House, 12am. I am now trying to make contact with any paranormal life.."

Jamie took a minute to clear his throat.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he called out. "My name is Jamie Bennett and I wanted to talk to you. Hello?"

He didn't hear anything, but that didn't bother him. He knew from his research (watching paranormal tv shows and searching the internet) that you often didn't hear anything when trying to obtain EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon), but when you played them back, sometimes there'd be an unexplainable voice on the tape.

It was creepy, but cool. He was also interested in experimenting with Jack and Lillian on recording them, since he wanted to see if adults could either see or hear them, or if only kids (or teens.. or adults!) that believed in them would be able to see and hear them.

"What's your name?" he asked after a pause. "What happened to you?"

He left the recorder running as he wandered over to the stairs. In the pitch dark they looked pretty ominous. As he neared the bottom of them he shivered as the temperature suddenly dropped. With a gasp he quickly rummaged around in his bag that he brought and got out his digital thermometer. He checked the temperature of the room and slowly moved the thermometer through the cold spot. The temperature was significantly lower! Alright!

And he knew there was no way it could be electrical interference since there was no power to the house.

"Hey, uh.. if you're here.. I want to talk to you. Can you give me a sign that you're here?" Jamie asked the cold spot. He knew that cold spots indicated the presence of a ghost.

After he finished talking, he waited a good minute in total silence. When he was about to give up and head upstairs he suddenly heard a woman's voice.

"..No.. no please..! Don't..!" the voice cried out.

Then there was a loud noise, that Jamie thought sounded like could be a slap? Maybe.. and then the sound of someone falling down the stairs. Jamie backed away from the stairs hurriedly as the noise of something falling came right towards him. He almost thought he felt something brush his feet as he backed away.

He quickly exchanged his thermometer for his phone and put the flash on and then took a few pictures of where the cold spot had been, at the foot of the stairs. As he looked at his phone battery, he saw that it was more than half gone already and he had made sure it was fully charged before he left the house.

With his heart practically in this throat, Jamie waited for any other signs, but didn't hear anything.

"H-Hello..?" Jamie called out timidly.

This was kind of freaking him out. A _lot_.

He went back to the foot of the stairs, and waved his hand around where the cold spot had been, but he couldn't feel it any more. With a deep breath, he wandered upstairs.

"Th-this is Jamie Bennett.. now heading upstairs.." he said to the voice recorder he still had sticking out of his back pocket.

He wandered down the hallway and came to a bedroom on the left. He quick peeked inside with his flashlight and saw that it was a master bedroom. There was a good layer of dust over everything, but the bed was still made with a flowery bedspread that was very worn.

Jamie wandered inside hesitantly and instantly felt a heaviness that he couldn't explain. He was filled with dread just wandering into this room and he didn't know why. This room also seemed darker than the downstairs and more oppressive. He looked around in alarm, almost expecting to see a Nightmare come whinnying out of a dark corner, but he knew that was impossible. They had finally defeated all the Nightmares _ages_ ago.

Besides, he still had the power of belief on his side if it did turn out to be one last stray Nightmare.

"Now in the master bedroom.. It's.. ah.." Jamie glanced at his watch, only to see that the battery had died. He shook his wrist, but the watch didn't move. Didn't he just replace the battery last week?

"..Well, my watch stopped so I'll just say it's late." Jamie continued. "Now trying to make contact.. Hello? Anyone there?"

That was when Jamie heard stomping headed right in his direction.

"What are you doing here?!" a male voice thundered at him. "GET. OUT."

Jamie found himself backed into a wall from the stomping and _something_ knocked his phone right out of his hand, sending it skittering across the floor. He saw the flash go off as the camera was accidentally activated and Jamie let out a shriek of fright.

This definitely wasn't supposed to happen!

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my room you little brat!" the male voice boomed out at Jamie and Jamie felt something grab his jacket and physically shove him towards the door.

"..I..I'm sorry..!" Jamie cried out at the voice. He ducked and ran like crazy to the corner where his phone was and scooped it up, before hurrying right out of the room. As soon as he left, the door slammed closed behind him and he thought he heard some grumbling coming from inside the room.

Feeling his heart practically beating out of his chest, Jamie thought about abandoning his task. He already had plenty of evidence and even the bravest ghost hunter would have run right out of the house.

There were still a couple rooms to investigate upstairs however, so he wandered down the hall and peeked into a small room on the right. It was a bedroom, obviously a child's room since the bed in it was pretty tiny. Half the frame had actually collapsed and part of the mattress lay on the floor.

Trying to calm himself down, he saw a few crayon drawings taped up to the walls. He wandered over to see a picture of a family: a mom, a little girl and way off to the side was a drawing of a man with a frowny face. Jamie thought of the angry male voice in the master bedroom and decided this was an accurate depiction.

"Ok.." Jamie said to the recorder in what he hoped was a more calm voice. "Now I'm in a kid's room.. I seriously hope I don't run into Pitch here. This place is creepy enough. Now trying to initiate contact. Hello? Is anyone there? I-I mean.. anyone.. not creepy? Or angry? Someone friendly."

Jamie shot the doorway a nervous glance, as if he was expecting the angry male voice to come storming in any minute, demanding that he, Jamie, get out of his house.

But no angry voices did come storming in, and Jamie breathed a small sigh of relief. This was instantly followed by sharp intake of breath as he heard the woman pleading at the top of the stairs again, followed this time by the man's angry yelling and the loud SLAP. There was a terrible scream and the sound of someone falling down the stairs, and then.. nothing.

Jamie gulped. He had enough. He took one last look around the room and then bolted out the door. He made it to the top of the stairs when something roughly shoved him from behind and he almost fell down the stairs himself. He had to drop his flashlight, but he managed to grab a hold of the railing at the last second and stopped himself from falling. The staircase was a long one and looked treacherous to fall down.

As it was, he stumbled down a few steps before catching himself, and then he was off running again. He grabbed up his flashlight on the way down and almost flew to the door. He jumped the few porch steps down to the ground and took off running into the night.

He was later disappointed to find out that he had been in the house for not even half an hour. He had gone straight home after that, and after spending some time in the kitchen with a relaxing cup of tea (a habit he had somehow picked up from Jack, as Jack always said that tea calmed him down), he went upstairs to review his evidence.

What he saw almost made his hair turn as white as Jack's. He remembered hearing someone fall down the stairs and that he had snapped a picture of the cold spot right after this had happened, and so he plugged his now dead phone into his computer and waited for it to power up.

When it did finally turn on, he went into the pictures and found the one he was looking for. He was expecting maybe an orb or an unusual shadow or nothing at all, but what he saw instead was something right out of a horror movie.

There laying at the foot of the stairs was the body of a young woman. Her head was bent at an unnatural angle and there was a pool of blood seeping from her head. She had dark hair and her eyes were closed. As Jamie stared at the picture, some small part of him thought she looked a little familiar..

Then after trying to compose himself a little, Jamie rewound the recorder and pressed play. He heard himself talking into the recorder and the strange sound of the woman falling down the stairs. Then he heard the disembodied male voice yelling at him when he was upstairs. It was when he was in the child's room that things got _really_ creepy.

He heard himself say he was in the child's room, and then the noises started up again. Only this time he could hear the man shouting at the woman and the sound of a slap, and then.. he heard something he hadn't heard at the time.

He heard a little girl's voice.

" _Mommy!_ " the voice cried out. He heard the sound of running footsteps, light steps, like a child's and then from farther away he heard the child cry out again.

" _Mommy, wake up! Wake up..!_ "

The voice sounded so heartbreakingly familiar, but no.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

He heard heavier footsteps thunder down the stairs and then there was another SLAP and the sound of a little girl crying out.

" _Shut up!_ " the man roared. " _She's sleeping and she won't ever wake up! Now get back upstairs!_ "

Jamie heard the sounds of a little girl sobbing and felt his heart clench. He knew it was possible that events that had happened long ago, especially traumatic events could keep playing themselves out over and over, like a tape.

He stared down at the digital recorder and thought about the voice he heard.

It sounded just like Lillian's.

* * *

Author's Note: Stay tuned for Chapter 2!


	2. Chapter 2: To Tell or Not to Tell

Author's Note: Here's Chapter 2! It's a little bit of a cliffhanger, I _know._ I'll stop doing things like that eventually. Anyway, I hope you like it. There's a little Bunny action and I hope you enjoy Jamie's interactions with Pippa.

Chapter 2: To Tell or Not to Tell

Jamie had replayed the recording from his digital recorder a few times and sighed. Yep, that definitely sounded like Lillian. There was no mistake about it. He wondered if he should say anything to her about it, but then thought of what he heard.

He winced as he thought of how to bring _that_ subject up. Then he thought of what he did whenever he had a problem or something major that had happened that involved either the Guardians, or Jack and Lillian.

With that thought in mind, he picked up his phone and returned to the home screen. Then he sent a text to Pippa. It was almost one in the morning by now, but he knew she'd be awake. It was only Friday night, not a school night. Even if it was.. Well.. What their parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right?

 _I found something MAJOR at the old Parker house,_ he texted.

He was about to add more, but thought he'd see if Pippa even responded first. It took a few minutes, but soon his phone dinged that it had a response.

 _Like that orb you found at the cemetery?_

Jamie could practically hear the sarcasm oozing in her reply, and bristled a little.

 _No! I had some totally creepy things happen. Just check THIS out._

Jamie sent the text and followed up with the picture of the dead woman at the foot of the stairs.

It took only a few seconds for Pippa to reply.

 _OMG Jamie! Who is that?! What happened?!_ Pippa responded.

So Jamie went on to describe what had happened, and Pippa made Jamie call her and play the tape for her.

After the tape finished, Jamie waited for Pippa to respond, but there was only shocked silence.

"So what do you think, Pip?" Jamie asked. "Should I say anything to Lillian about it? I'm pretty sure the thing with the stairs is a residual haunting, you know.. Like how certain scenes play out over and over again, even if there aren't any people around. But I think that guy's voice I heard, and the way he kinda shoved me around.. It's like an intelligent haunting, but I don't think he knew it was me. It was like he still thought he was alive or something and was yelling at someone else.. Lillian, maybe."

Pippa finally responded, sounding uncertain.

"Well, if her dad's spirit is hanging around the Parker house.." then she paused. "Ohmigosh! _Parker_. If those two people were Lillian's parents and the guy was the last person to own the house, then that means Lillian's name is actually _Lillian Parker!_ But I don't know if you should say anything. I mean, Lillian would probably want to know if her dad's spirit is still there, but it might bring up a lot of bad memories. Maybe you could run it by Jack first and see what he says? Maybe he'd know something."

Jamie sighed as he thought about it. He wondered for a moment if he should run it by Pitch first, but then quickly nixed that idea. Pitch tended to be a little overprotective, especially when it came to Lillian.

And it was no wonder why. She seemed to be a favorite target amongst evil spirits for getting kidnapped. They tended to think that her small stature meant that she wasn't very strong.

Jamie grinned a little as he remembered Lillian's vivid description of the Lightning Lass giving an evil spirit a little taste of her lightning. People tended to forget that there were also spring storms, or that Lillian could easily control them.

"Jamie?" Pippa cut into his thoughts.

"Oh!" Jamie said, startled. He didn't realize that he'd been thinking for too long. "Sorry. Yeah, I guess I'll do that. Um.. should we tell the others?"

There was an awkward pause as they both thought about it. The Burgess kids that had all been present to witness Pitch's evilness and the resulting rescuing of Jack and Lillian that fateful day all tended to share any info they gathered about any of the Guardians, Jack or Lillian. Even though the Guardians tried to keep them as uninvolved in the happenings of the spirit world as much as possible, the kids tended to resent it and usually got involved anyway. It led to some interesting situations over the years.

"..I don't know," Pippa finally said. "I'd ask for permission first, Jamie. This is big. Really big."

"Yeah.. you're right." Jamie agreed. "If Lillian says no, then we'll keep it between us."

"Right," Pippa said. "So.. did you see anything else?"

"Uh.." Jamie blushed, trying not to think of how he ran out of there. "Not.. not really. That was it."

Pippa laughed.

"You ran out of there as fast as you could, I bet."

"Hey!" Jamie said, only mildly offended. "I bet you wouldn't do any better."

"Is that a real bet?" Pippa teased him.

Jamie smirked. Oh, it was on.

"Maybe it is. In fact, I bet you couldn't spend the night there all by yourself. Just you and a tape recorder and a flashlight. Sunset to sunrise."

Jamie suppressed an evil chuckle. There was no way -

"Deal. And this way you can get some corroborating evidence too. But I'll wait until after you talk to Jack and Lillian, and see how they take it first. Lillian might not want anyone messing around in her old house."

Jamie groaned after he got off the phone with Pippa. How was he ever going to tell Jack and Lillian about this?

* * *

The next day, Jamie slept in a little due to the fact he was up so late the night before. He made his way over to Jack's lake, wearing a light jacket. He smiled as he saw that a lot of the leaves had already turned, or more accurately, been painted.

Jasper tended to paint Burgess' leaves even earlier than he usually did, not that August minded. Ever since Lillian's book had come out, more kids than ever could see all the Seasonal Spirits, and Jasper felt awkward with all the gawking. He was used to doing his work silently, unseen. Now whenever he started painting the leaves, he had a small audience.

Jamie went to the lake, but was surprised to see that Jack wasn't there. The water was frozen, but that didn't mean anything. The water was normally frozen all year 'round, unless the kids asked Jack to unfreeze it so they could go swimming in the summer. Jamie paused at the lake, looking out at the frozen water, and then he glanced in the direction of Pitch's lair.

They all knew where it was now, but Jamie didn't like visiting it. It was _creepy_. And not just because the boogeyman lived there.

Who wanted to live in a big cave anyway? In the dark! Then Jamie thought of how the Pitch's lair came to be. Did Pitch actually make it, or did he stumble upon it one day and claim it as his own. If it was the latter, what if something lived there before Pitch?

Maybe it was haunted!

Jamie brightened at this as he made his way over to it, but then deflated. No, if it was haunted Pitch definitely would've noticed by now. So would Jack and Lillian.

Jamie was so intent on his line of thought that he didn't notice the tunnel opening up in the ground directly in front of him. So it was with a startled shout that he fell right in.

He tumbled right into Jack and Lillian, who had been flying with the help of the wind. Since Jamie was bigger now, when he crashed into the pair he sent them all tumbling back down the tunnel.

It was a surprised Bunny who saw them all tumble back out into the Warren.

"Oi!" Bunny said with a hint of irritation. They had almost tumbled right into some of his precious googies.

"S-Sorry.." Jamie stuttered as he sat up. He gave Jack and Lillian an apologetic glance. "I didn't see the tunnel open up in front of me. What were you guys doing, anyway?"

Jack chuckled in amusement as he and Lillian got up to their feet. Jack reached out a hand and helped Jamie up. Jamie now stood a little taller than Jack, since Jamie was a little older than him now. Jack didn't seem to mind, but Lillian sometimes would shoot Jamie a sad glance from time to time.

Jamie understood. Lillian could see that he was growing up.. Growing older, when Jack and Lillian and the Guardians never would. They would forever be frozen at their current ages. Maybe they'd gain maturity and grow a little wiser, but they'd never age.

However, Jamie was a teenager and he definitely wasn't thinking about what would happen when he was middle aged and Jack was still a teenager. Even though he was eighteen, Jamie still felt like he'd be young forever. He'd worry about getting old when he was thirty or something.

Lillian smiled as she saw one of her favorite humans. Jamie and Jack had a special bond, but Lillian really liked him too.

"Bunny invited us to help him paint some eggs!" Lillian said excitedly. "Look what I painted!"

She grabbed Jamie's hand and dragged him over to a group of easter eggs that still had feet. She gestured at a variety of spring themed eggs.

"Hey, these are good!" Jamie praised as he took them in. He spotted one that had a small picture of an Easter Bunny holding a basket of eggs. That Lillian was so silly sometimes.

Jamie's smile faded as he thought of what had happened the night before. He had meant to get Jack on his own and ask his advice on it, but he hadn't anticipated running into _both_ Jack and Lillian. Now what was he going to do?

"Jamie, is something wrong?" Lillian asked, sounding concerned.

Jamie hitched a smile on his face in a Jack-like fashion that didn't fool anyone.

"No, nothing's wrong. Why?"

Bunny rolled his eyes as he watched the exchange with Jack.

"Kid, yer about as good as hidin' yer feelings as Jack. And everybody can read 'im like a book now."

"Hey!" Both Jack and Jamie yelled at the same time.

Lillian started giggling at that, but soon grew serious.

"What's wrong?" she asked in that innocent, child-like manner that she still had.

Jamie looked at her guiltily and looked away.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't tell her what happened and see the devastation on her face.

He definitely didn't want to do it in front of Bunny either.

"..I. uh.." Jamie stammered, looking anywhere but at Lillian.

This was _definitely_ not the right moment for this.

"I just wanted to talk to Jack," Jamie finally said. "That's all."

Lillian heard what Jamie wasn't saying. He wanted to talk to Jack _alone._

"..Oh.." Lillian said, as her face fell.

Jack glanced at Bunny, then looked from Lillian to Jamie. He could tell that from the look on Jamie's face, it was something serious.

"Hey, Lillian.." Jack started, but Lillian interrupted.

"I _know_ ," she huffed. "Stay here with Bunny while you talk with Jamie. If you want to get rid of me, you just have to ask."

Jamie looked guilty again, but Jack laughed.

"I guess I can't get away with anything, can I?" he said as he walked over to Lillian and ruffled her curls.

"Bunny and I can have some tea while you guys talk about guy stuff," Lillian stated with a smug look. She knew how much Jack _loved_ Bunny's tea.

Jack was a little disappointed he was missing out on a tea time with Bunny, but he knew there would be plenty more in the future, so he wasn't _too_ disappointed.

"C'mon Jamie," Jack said as Wind picked the two of them up.

Jamie shivered as they flew out of the tunnel and back to Burgess.

He was still trying to think of what to say when the tunnel opened up in the ground and they flew out.

* * *

Author's Note: What did you think? I'm pretty busy at the moment, so I decided to stop there since it seemed like a good place to stop and for the next chapter to start. Do you think Pippa should go through with her dare with Jamie? Should the other kids get involved? If you've read Child of Spring, you know I'm open to plot suggestions and ideas, so let me know!


	3. Chapter 3: Telling Lillian

Author's Note: My muse strikes me at the weirdest times, I swear. I noticed this says I haven't updated this story in over two years. I don't have much to say in that regard other than I lost interest in it. It also had to do with the fact that this takes place far into the future (the year 2022) and Child of Spring needed to advance a little more before I felt more comfortable going on with this. Now I'm enjoying myself in making cryptic references to the past! :) So bonus to any of you guys who come and check this update out.

I swear this fic was supposed to be lighthearted and fun. There wasn't supposed to be any huge plot revelations. It was just going to be something simple that I could turn to and write without having any huge things in it like Child of Spring. When I started off with Jamie investigating Lillian's old house and discovering the ghost of Lillian's dad and hearing her mother's murder, I swear I didn't think this would get so angsty. Obviously I should have seen this coming. Anyway, I figure this is a good time to help Lillian out with overcoming her past. Even though Lillian seems completely fine and has seemed to blow off the huge revelation of what happened to her when she regained her memories (all the way back to Chapter 27 of Child of Spring), we'll get to find out if Lillian's as happy as she seems.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this weird little chapter and don't mind me teasing you about Child of Spring. I _will_ eventually update it, I just need to get myself immersed back into the plot. Dipping my toes back into this particular fic helped me out, since I had to go back and read a bunch of the latest chapters in Child of Spring to make sure I got certain facts in this fic right. That said, my next fic update will most likely be for HP Child of Spring since I already have a chapter started. Then after that I'm thinking I'll do Let it Shine, since I have almost an entire chapter written out and after _that_ I'll see where my muse takes me. In between everything, I plan to keep working on Child of Spring. I just want you guys to know that I'm always thinking (very guiltily) about my fics and about where the plot should go.

Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter Three: Telling Lillian

Jamie and Jack landed pretty fast on the ground, thanks to Wind. Jamie still looked very awkward, while Jack was curious.

"What is it?" Jack asked curiously as he rested his staff on his shoulder.

Jamie took a deep breath and wondered where he should begin. He tried thinking of how to phrase everything he wanted to say, but memories of a similar situation he'd been in a few months ago kept popping up. He had needed someone to confide in and had decided to trust Jack. Not because Jack was the wisest person he knew, but because he knew that Jack wouldn't laugh at him and would believe him.

* * *

 _Jamie had rushed to the lake as fast as he could, hardly believing what he'd seen. He was so freaked out that he'd barrelled right into Jack, who was lounging by his lake, which was frozen as usual. Jamie didn't even notice the small out of season snow pile near where Jack was lounging or the colder than average temperatures._

 _"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed as Jamie tripped over his staff, which he'd leaned against his favorite tree._

 _"Ahh!" Jamie cried out as he tripped and fell right into Jack, who managed to catch him._

 _Jack grabbed Jamie before he could faceplant the ground and helped him back up to his feet. After Jamie was standing, he snatched up his staff, which seemed to be fine. After seeing that his staff was still in one piece, Jack noticed the panicked look on Jamie's face. He couldn't help but chuckle, since lately Jamie always had that face as he told Jack about his latest "discovery."_

 _"What is it this time?" Jack asked with amusement._

 _Jamie shot Jack an especially panicked look as he spoke._

 _"I think I broke the space-time continuum! I'm not even joking!" he almost shouted._

 _"Uh.. the what?" Jack asked as he scratched his head. He thought he might have heard of that mentioned somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. Was it back when he and Lillian had gone to school? It's not like he needed to know what that was to spread winter anyway._

 _"The space-time continuum! You know.. the fabric of the universe! Without it we are toast!" Jamie shouted._

 _"So.. how's the world going to end?" Jack asked as he still was trying to figure out why Jamie was so panicked._

 _"You don't understand.. I saw_ myself! _But I was a kid! And now I'm getting all these weird memories that don't make any sense!" Jamie exclaimed in a rush._

 _Jack blinked and then his crystal blue eyes narrowed._

 _"Did you go see Father Time?" he asked Jamie seriously._

 _Jamie's eyes widened._

 _"Whoa.. there's a Father Time?! Can we go see him?!"_

 _Jamie couldn't help but get excited about the prospect! Think of the implications! An actual being that controlled time! That was so -_

 _Then Jamie paused as more of the weird memories hit him._

 _"Wait.. Oh man, I think I already did!" he said in surprised confusion._

 _All Jack could do was facepalm at this._

* * *

Yep, that had been a very awkward conversation and one extraordinarily weird day for him. Now as he glanced at Jack who was giving him an expectant look, Jamie thought that even that weirdness or even the other weirdness that was his life hadn't prepared him for this moment.

"Ok, so.. Last night I went out on a ghost hunt," Jamie started.

"Don't tell me," Jack tried not to groan. "You saw a ghost."

"Actually, yeah," Jamie said as he fished in his pocket for his phone.

He pulled it out and scrolled through his pictures. He flashed past the usual photos with his friends and a couple of the Guardians and some of Jack and Lillian. He even had one of a very annoyed Jasper, since Jamie had been delighted to finally capture a picture of the elusive Seasonal. But before he could reach his latest picture, he saw one that made him stop cold and all he could do was stare at it in horror.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked in concern as he saw Jamie pale considerably.

Jamie tried and failed to tell Jack what was wrong as his voice had left him. All he could do was thrust his phone in Jack's face.

Jack stared at the picture and then scratched his head.

"Yeah, he looks kind of.. upset. Who is that?" Jack asked.

"You don't understand," Jamie said in a small voice. "That's from my ghost hunt last night. When I was alone."

Jamie remembered when the ghost with the angry voice had slapped his phone right out of his hand and the flash went off. It must have accidentally captured a picture of the guy!

Jack grew more concerned as he looked at the man's angry expression and the fact that his hand appeared raised as if to hit something.

"Did he hurt you? Are you alright?" Jack asked as Jamie pulled his phone back.

"I.. I was going to show you another picture," Jamie said as he cleared his throat and tried to sound more normal. "But.. uh.. I think I caught this one by accident."

"Ok, so you met some angry spirit. Were you afraid you'd freak Lillian out?" Jack asked.

Jamie shot Jack a look.

"You're kidding, right? She'd probably drag me back there right now to go meet him!"

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at that. Even though Lillian liked to prank Jamie for his love of everything supernatural and strange, she secretly loved everything he found out and was always dying to know when his next discovery would be.

"So..?" Jack prodded.

Jamie sighed.

"I brought my digital recorder with me and I caught an EVP."

"E.. what now?" Jack blinked.

"Electronic voice phenomenon," Jamie explained. "Sometimes when you record things in a place that's haunted when you play it back later on, you'll hear voices that you didn't hear at the time. And I did hear things that I didn't hear at the time."

Jack was intrigued by this. He had never heard of those things, even though Jamie had probably explained all this to him at some point. (Sometimes Jack just pretended to listen and nodded along with whatever Jamie was saying. He had a short attention span.)

"What did you hear?" Jack asked, very curious.

There was a long, awkward pause as Jamie found the ground suddenly fascinating.

"..I.. I think I heard Lillian's voice on the recorder," Jamie mumbled. "I think I was at her old house, and.. and that scary guy was her dad."

Jack stared at Jamie.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" Lillian asked Bunny as she stared at the tunnel they had flown back up.

"Ya know Jamie," Bunny chuckled. "Probably 'bout some UFO he thought he saw or else Bigfoot."

Lillian pouted as she shot Bunny a look.

"And he couldn't tell Jack with me there because?" she asked, sounding offended.

"I seem ta recall the last time Jamie told you two about one of his discoveries he woke up with a blow-up alien doll facing 'im in bed and ya made a crop circle out of the grass in his backyard," Bunny said as he gave Lillian a look right back.

"Bigfoot did it," Lillian automatically replied back without a trace of remorse. The look on Jamie's face when he woke up had been hilarious.

"That might be why he's leery of telling ya 'bout his discoveries. Ya might want to go easy on the pranks fer awhile," Bunny advised.

Lillian heaved a very dramatic long-suffering sigh.

"Fiiine."

Bunny guided Lillian away from the tunnel and over to his house.

"Now ya want some tea or not?"

* * *

"You have to show me!" Jack exclaimed as he called on the Wind.

"Whoa!" Jamie cried out as he was suddenly airborne again. "Wait, wait wait! JAAACK!"

The crisp winter wind flew them quickly through the forest and out into the town.

"People can see me! Jack, this is SO not cool!" Jamie squeaked as people stared open-mouthed at the phenomenon that was Jamie Bennett flying through the air.

People walked into streetlights and some whipped out their phones, only to find that the blur of a boy that had flown past was already gone.

"No fair, I wanna ride!" Cupcake shouted as she walked out of the library to see Jamie flying with Jack, but they were too busy to pay her any mind.

Soon Jamie found himself in his room with one antsy Winter Spirit.

"You know I'm probably going to wind up on the news again, don't you?" Jamie deadpanned.

"Just tell them it was a weather balloon," Jack said dismissively.

Jamie facepalmed.

"Jaaack, that is the _lamest_ excuse ever! It didn't work for Area 51 and it definitely won't work for me."

At the look Jack gave him though, Jamie quickly grabbed his recorder and set it to the section he knew that Jack was most interested in and then hit play.

 _"Mommy! Mommy, wake up! Wake up!"_ the girl's voice cried out in distress.

There was a sharp sound of a harsh slap next followed by the man shouting.

 _"Shut up!"_ the angry voice roared. _"She's sleeping and she won't ever wake up! Now get back upstairs!"_

After that, Jamie stopped the recording.

"I also got a picture of a woman at the foot of the stairs," Jamie said quietly. "It looked like she fell down the stairs and died."

Jack sighed heavily and shook his head.

"I think that is Lillian," he admitted. "It sounds just like her."

"I was wondering if I should tell her about any of this," Jamie said, his voice still quiet. "Her dad's ghost is still there, Jack. He.. he talked to me. I think he thought I was Lillian."

Jack frowned as he remembered all those years ago when he and Lillian had finally gotten their memories back. He had been overjoyed, but Lillian.. He remembered that all Lillian had said was that she wanted her mommy before she burst into tears. He remembered after that though, Pitch had coaxed her into telling what was wrong and she told them..

Oh man..

It _was_ her!

She told them _exactly_ what had happened in that recording!

Jack remembered the devastated look on Lillian's face and didn't want to see it again. He ran a hand through his hair distractedly and saw Jamie looking at him worriedly. Lillian had lived all these years without knowing about this. Did she really have to know?

Jack knew that Pitch would definitely not tell Lillian about any of this and he'd probably forbid Jack from telling her, but.. Shouldn't it be her choice? She never talked about her mortal life, Jack realized. He'd sometimes bring up something that reminded him of his sister or his previous family, but Lillian.. She never mentioned her mother. After that day, it was like she decided to pretend that part of her life had never existed.

Jack sighed, knowing that probably wasn't a very healthy thing to do either. Maybe Lillian needed to see this. Maybe she needed to confront her old life, or at least her father.

He mentally cringed as he knew Pitch was going to _kill_ him if he ever found out about this.

"I'll.. talk to her about it," Jack finally said. "It should be up to her what she wants to do."

Jamie suddenly remembered his rash bet with Pippa, but he knew this wasn't exactly the right time to be bringing it up. Actually, he kind of felt like a jerk for even daring Pippa to do it. It'd be different if it was just some random house, but this was Lillian's _life_. Her _dad_. It shouldn't be treated like a joke or a kid's game.

"Right," Jamie answered uneasily. "Uh.. so.."

Jack hitched a smirk on his face and ruffled Jamie's hair.

"Don't you have some homework to do?" he asked Jamie, trying to sound casual.

A strange look crossed Jamie's face when he saw that Jack actually had to reach up to ruffle his hair. It never used to be that way..

"Yeah, uh.. Tell Lillian I'll see her later," Jamie said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Maybe she'll want to come on my next ghost hunt with me?"

It wasn't exactly a stellar offer since most of Jamie's 'adventures' didn't pan out to be much of anything. But Lillian (and hopefully Jack) would make it more fun.

"Depends on where you're going," Jack replied and then gave Jamie a sympathetic look at his wince. He hadn't meant to make it sound so callous. "Maybe we could convince North to let us borrow some snow globes and we could go visit Jasper's forest or August's isle."

Jamie's eyes instantly lit up at that as he thought of the possibilities. He could still bring his equipment and see if he could capture anything unusual.

"That'd be amazing!" he exclaimed with a childish grin. "You're the best!"

He gave Jack a huge hug and then suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing and pulled away right away, giving Jack an awkward pat on the shoulder instead.

"I'll see you later," he said as he turned to put his digital recorder away.

Jack shook his head at the teen's back as his smirk slipped off his face. He stuffed one of his hands into his hoodie pocket and looked out the window towards where he knew the tunnel they had flown up was, that had yet to disappear.

How was he ever going to explain this to Lillian?

With a _whoosh_ , Jamie felt the winter wind whisk Jack away and back off towards the lake.

* * *

Lillian sat at a table in Bunny's home in his Warren, sipping a mug of tea that couldn't be found anywhere else in the world. It was Bunny's own special tea and not just anyone was invited to have it. Lillian and the Guardians were one of the few that have ever tasted it. And even then, not all the Guardians had had it. The Guardians might have grown closer over the years, but Tooth was still very busy and hardly ever stopped by the Warren. Bunny usually didn't stop by the Palace, so it didn't bother him.

He often visited Sandy's island, however, and the two often had long chats about children, Jack and Lillian or even their past adventures or what Pitch was up to. Even though it had been years since Pitch had joined the Guardians, it was still a little strange to Bunny that their once nemesis was their ally. Pitch always turned up at their monthly Guardian meetings, but he didn't often see the Guardians outside of the meetings, except for Jack Frost.

At first, the Guardians had tried to include Pitch in all sorts of activities, but they soon learned that Pitch preferred his solitude and so it was rare for them to invite him over to their homes. North was forever trying to get Pitch to stay and help make toys, but Pitch usually came up with an excuse to leave. There was only so much eggnog and cookies he could take.

Lillian was in the middle of jabbering away at Bunny about one of her and Jack's pranks on Jamie when Jack himself turned up with a small burst of crisp, winter wind.

"Hey, watch the cold," Bunny complained with a shiver. "My googies like it warmer 'n that and ya'll hurt the garden."

"Sorry," Jack said as he hastily set his staff down, essentially cutting off the wind. Wind, who had followed Jack down as a show of support, didn't appreciate being told the equivalent by Bunny to shut up. Jack heard the agitated whisper in his ear as a small breeze played with his hair, but Jack softly told Wind to behave, and it settled down.

Far too used to Jack talking to what appeared to be nothing, Lillian smiled at Jack, missing his apprehension.

"There's still lots of tea left, Jack!" she said enthusiastically. "C'mon, you can tell Bunny how you made all those crop circles!"

"Yeah, I seem ta recall a big hubbub on the news," Bunny said dryly to the Winter Spirit as he stood to set out another mug for Jack.

"Actually," Jack said as he tucked both his hands in his hoodie pocket. "I need to talk to Lillian."

Lillian, who had been about to resume her story to Bunny, paused in mid-sip of her tea and looked over at Jack curiously.

"Is this about whatever Jamie had to talk to you about?" she asked as she set her mug back down.

Jack looked incredibly nervous at that, but he tried hard to keep his fear at bay. He definitely did _not_ want Pitch to find out about any of this and being afraid to talk to Lillian would be a big tip-off.

"Something like that," Jack agreed as Bunny looked from Jack to Lillian and then back to Jack.

"Is it Guardian business?" Bunny asked shrewdly.

"Nah, it's more like.. family business," Jack said and instantly regretted it when Bunny's ears went down and he looked hurt.

"Right," Bunny muttered, cutting off Jack's attempts to try and phrase things better after that. "I'll see ya around then."

"Bunny.." Jack said, not sure what to say. Of course, he and Lillian saw the Guardians as family now, but this was different. He was sure Lillian wouldn't want everyone to know about her memories.

Bunny didn't answer as he murmured something about his googies and hastily left the kitchen. Lillian took one look at Bunny's retreating form and then crossed her arms at Jack with a pout on her face.

"You didn't have to hurt his feelings!" she said accusingly to Jack.

"I didn't mean to!" Jack protested. "But.. this is private."

"We tell Bunny everything!" Lillian said with a big scowl. "We tell _all_ the Guardians everything."

"You haven't told them everything," Jack said quietly to her. "You haven't told anyone about your memories, even though Tooth's asked you about them quite a bit."

Lillian's emerald eyes turned sad and she looked down at her hands, which she'd placed in her lap.

"Nobody needs to know that," she finally said after a long pause.

"Which is why I told Bunny it was family business," Jack stressed.

Lillian's head snapped up and she gave Jack a piercing look.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she stuttered, her voice coming out as more of a whisper.

"I'll tell you once we get out of here," Jack promised as he scooped up his staff.

Bunny felt the winter wind whip back up and sighed as his ears twitched. He had wandered off to another part of his house, but he hadn't wandered far enough since he had accidentally overheard what Jack and Lillian were talking about. He couldn't help but wonder what would be so important about Lillian's memories and why Jamie would know about them but not the Guardians.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pitch, who was in his lair with his own cup of tea frowned as a feeling that something was wrong hit him. He had many of those paternal feelings strike him over the years and it had never meant anything good. He sighed, as he realized he had no idea what Jack and Lillian were up to at the moment. He recalled Lillian had said something about playing outside and Jack hadn't given much of an answer when Pitch had told him not to annoy any of the Seasonals with out-of-season weather.

Putting a little extra sugar in his tea, Pitch decided if he pretended everything was fine then maybe everything would be. After all, they say ignorance is bliss.

* * *

Jack landed with Lillian near the lake and resumed his seat by the tree as he fiddled nervously with his staff. Lillian stood nearby as she watched Jack try to gather his courage. As the silence stretched on, she finally huffed.

"What is it?" she demanded.

"Jamie went on a ghost hunt last night," Jack blurted out.

Lillian stared at Jack for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"Is _that_ what you had to tell me?" she laughed. "What, did he see Pitch in there? Or how about Casper?"

"No, he saw your dad!" Jack said more loudly than he intended, but he knew it was no laughing matter.

Lillian's laughter abruptly cut off and her eyes went wide.

"..Wh.. wh.." she stammered, unable to get the rest of the word out.

"Jamie went to your old house and got a picture of your dad," Jack explained. "He played a recording for me and it sounds like your dad's been haunting the place for years. Jamie heard that fight your parents had by the stairs.. It was pretty strange."

Lillian's eyes had gone wide and she stared at Jack, turning almost as pale as he was.

"Jamie thought you might want to go there and see him," Jack continued in a rush. "I think it might be a good idea. This is a chance for you to get some closure and you don't have to worry about anything hurting you. Ghosts can't do anything."

Lillian's shocked expression turned more closed off and she turned away from Jack, her eyes filling with tears.

"..I.. I can't.." she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Lillian - " Jack started, as he went to reach out for her.

"I CAN'T!" Lillian suddenly shouted as her flowery bracelet glowed brightly in her distress.

Before Jack could do anything else, the Giant Tulip of Doom had appeared and swallowed her up, disappearing back into the ground.

"Temperamental little thing," a voice said nearby.

Jack's surprised shriek caused the voice to laugh and the tanned golden visage of August smirked down at the Winter Spirit from where he had been standing nearby.

"Jasper says knock it off with the snow," August informed Jack. "You're ruining his precious leaves, even though it's not quite time for them to start turning yet."

Jack blinked in surprise since August usually had not much of anything to do with him. The Seasonals had all had their fair share of adventures together, and while they didn't have the same animosity for one another as they had in the past, they weren't all best friends either.

"It's too hot around here," Jack finally admitted.

August tucked his golden locks behind an ear and frowned at Jack.

"You're starting to remind me of You-Know-Who," he said to the childish Winter Spirit.

Jack gave a dramatic gasp at this.

"Not.. _Voldemort!_ " Jack cried out. "Oh no..! Don't let Harry Potter hear!"

August rolled his eyes and silently vowed to never be Jasper's messenger boy ever again. He didn't know why he even agreed to this in the first place.

"No, _Gethen._ " August corrected with a small sneer.

Jack gave a huge gasp at that and practically fell over in shock.

"WHAT?!" he stared at August. "I would never..!"

"Then knock it off with the snow," August said with a shrug.

Jack gave him a hurt look and August rolled his eyes again.

"It's not like I called you Mistral," he said simply.

"No, you just implied I was acting like a psychotic maniac that tried to destroy the planet!" Jack bristled.

"That was one of your more memorable fights," August commented.

"I wasn't the one that defeated him," Jack reminded August.

"Whatever happened with that, anyway?" August asked. "I never did get the full story."

Jack shrugged as he glanced at where Lillian had disappeared worriedly.

"Jamie never did give me the story on that. He doesn't like to talk about it much," Jack admitted. "I think he still has nightmares about it."

"That kid isn't normal," August said as he shook his head.

"He's a strong believer," Jack reminded August with a frown.

"Exactly," August nodded. "And he's how old? Don't most children stop when they're.. what, ten? Eleven?"

Jack remembered a conversation he'd had with Jamie ages ago about this very subject. It was something that they usually avoided, but Jack was curious. He'd asked Jamie about why he was such a strong believer still and Jamie had laughed and shot Jack a grin.

 _"With everything I've been through, how could I not?" Jamie had replied simply._

But Jack had noticed that Jamie wouldn't quite meet his eyes and he wondered yet again, what had happened to Jamie Bennett all those years ago. Whatever it was, it had had a huge impact on him since Jack had noticed Jamie seemed to be having more nightmares and he had begun to look into more strange phenomenon than he had before.

 _"I need to make sure it never happens again,"_ Jack had overheard Jamie mutter one day, not long after Jamie had started acting more strangely.

Over the next several days, Jamie would seek out Jack frantically and ask Jack if he'd seen Jamie at all and if he said anything.

 _"Did I tell you to give me any messages? Or what about Lillian? She's the Child of Spring, right?!"_

It had taken several weeks for Jamie to calm down and Jack had almost brought Jamie's abnormal behavior to the other Guardians. Lillian seemed to be the only one taking it all in stride and whenever Jack brought up Jamie's strangeness or his worries to her, she'd only pat his arm and tell him that everything would work out just fine.

Jack hadn't even noticed anything about the silver chain Lillian had around her neck at the time and he hadn't thought anything of it when that silver chain disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared when Lillian wasn't wearing it the next time Jack had seen her.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and gave August an annoyed look. They might not argue as much as they used to, but that still didn't mean that the narcissistic Seasonal never got on his nerves sometimes.

"Jamie can believe in whatever he wants to until he's old as dirt," Jack said shortly to August. "What's it matter to you?"

August shrugged nonchalantly.

"Nothing, I suppose. Anyway, unless you want your twin to set Crispin and Kale on you again, you better stop."

Jack rolled his eyes as August brought up two of the Fall Spirits that had been rescued from Gethen's clutches by Lillian ages ago. They were very overprotective of Jasper and all things Fall and had lately taken to not-so-subtly turning up to threaten him when Jack tried to make it cooler around his lake.

"I might wake up looking like a leaf again," Jack agreed as he mentioned the time the two Spirits had turned up when he was sleeping and painted him with the magical Fall paint as a reminder to keep the seasonal temperatures where they should be. Lillian had laughed herself silly when she'd seen him.

August gave Jack a dazzling grin at that and with a sudden spurt of flames worthy of only a sun god, he'd vanished.

"Have fun in California," Jack told the departing Summer Spirit with a sigh. Maybe he'd go see what his own Spirits and Sprites were up to. It'd been a while since he'd visited his magical ice castle.

Humming the tune to _Let it Go,_ Jack flew off with the Wind after he jokingly told it to take him to 'Elsa's Castle.' He'd find Lillian later on and see if he could convince her to visit her home then. For right now, he'd give her some time.

* * *

Lillian was spat out in Jamie's backyard suddenly and she brushed herself off as she got to her feet. Even after all these years, she still hadn't figured out how to give herself a softer landing. She was thinking of asking Mother Nature about it, but even Mother Nature didn't travel by a giant flower, so she might not be able to help.

Lillian looked around but saw that the backyard was empty. She sniffled and wiped her eyes and looked up at Jamie's window. Was he in there? It was hard to tell, so she wandered over to Jamie's backdoor and gently tried the knob. As usual, the door was unlocked. Jamie had gotten into the habit of leaving it open sometimes so that she and Jack could come to visit whenever they wanted to. It probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but so far everything had worked out in that regard.

She opened the door as little as possible as she snuck inside and nearly had a heart attack when she heard Jamie's mom puttering around in the nearby kitchen. She peeked inside to see Jamie's mom was busy making something and had her back to the kitchen entrance. Lillian wasn't sure, but she swore sometimes Jamie's mom could see her. But that was impossible, right?

Even so, Lillian was careful to be extra quiet as she snuck past the kitchen and went upstairs. She wandered over to Jamie's room, a path she'd taken several times over the years. She saw his door was ajar and was about ready to push it open a little more to peek in when the sound of Jamie's voice stopped her. Instead, she leaned in a little closer to the crack, only feeling a little guilty.

"Hey, Pip," Jamie said as he sat at his computer with his cell on the desk. It was connected in a call to Pippa and he currently had it on speakerphone since his hands were busy. He had his browser open on his computer and was busy updating his ghost hunting website with some of the evidence he had gathered. "So.. I told Jack what happened. It sounded like he was going to tell Lillian about it."

"Yikes, that's going to be one awkward conversation," Pippa commented.

"Tell me about it," Jamie replied. "Hey, I was thinking about our bet and, uh.. I don't think it's a good idea."

"What, you think I'll chicken out?" Pippa sounded offended.

"No, it's just.. We shouldn't be messing around with it. I think that voice I heard was her _dad._ " Jamie said as he wondered if he should upload the EVP he caught or not. It was great evidence, but..

Lillian gave a small, sharp intake of breath and then immediately covered her mouth to keep quiet. Jack was right, Jamie did find stuff at her old house!

There was a pause, and then Pippa sighed.

"Yeah, you're right. So.. you have any other haunted places to check out?" she asked curiously. Out of all their friends, Pippa was the one who was most interested in Jamie's findings. The others.. not so much. They could only take so much of Jamie's ramblings for so long.

Jamie chuckled at the change in subject.

"There is one place I was thinking of - " he started to say but was cut off by his mom calling up the stairs.

"Jamie! Lunch is ready!" his mom's voice floated in from downstairs.

"I'll tell you later," Jamie promised as he hastily said his goodbyes to Pippa and saved his work on the browser.

Lillian had jumped when Jamie's mom called up the stairs and in a panic, she summoned up her Giant Flower of Doom right there in the hall. She hadn't really been thinking of a destination when she called it, she just knew that she didn't want to get caught eavesdropping outside of Jamie's room. It was as the giant flower was gobbling her up with her mind whirling with thoughts of her mortal past, Lillian realized she hadn't told her flower where to go.

Moments later the door to Jamie's room fully opened as the last hint of the flower disappeared and Jamie walked out, not realizing how close he came to seeing Lillian in his hallway. With a grin, he thought of his next location for a ghost hunt. Maybe he'd see if Jack and Lillian wanted to tag along with him and Pippa.

As North would say, it was going to be epic!

* * *

The Giant Flower of Doom appeared on a dilapidated roof, having no qualms about defying all logic in growing wherever it wanted to. With a loud _'PATOOEY!'_ it spat Lillian out and then shrank back down and out of sight.

Lillian shrieked as she landed roughly on what felt like shingles and hastily sat up. She looked around at the familiar gray shingles that looked worn with age and groaned loudly.

"Oh no - " she started to say but was cut off when there was a loud groan that seemed to come from underneath her.

She paused in mid-complaint and before she had time to do anything else, the roof below her collapsed. With a shriek to wake the dead, she fell down into the darkness and out of sight.

* * *

Author's Note: Does anyone have any guesses on where Jamie is thinking of taking Pippa, Jack, and Lillian on his next ghost hunting adventure? Also, I'll try not to tease you guys so much with Gethen, but I couldn't help it. It was a major event in Jamie's life and it had a huge impact on him. It was also pretty traumatizing, so I imagine that even all these years later, he'd still be feeling the after effects of it. As Child of Spring advances into other plots, you'll probably find other references in this to that. I guess you can consider the two fics a sort of crossover with one another, or at least this one a sequel to Child of Spring. I couldn't remember if I ever made any references to what time of the year it was in this fic, so I decided that since Jamie was still worried about school and this _is_ about ghost hunting, I'd have it be mid-September so we can see Halloween coming up soon. I think I originally was going to have it be more towards summer so Jamie could go out whenever he wanted and have his adventures, but I changed my mind.

Anyway, as always thanks to all the faves and follows on not only this fic, but my other ones as well. If you guys have any plot suggestions, I'm all ears! I want this fic to have a lot of strange and unusual things happening to Jamie in this. While we are delving off into Lillian's past right now, I do want Jamie to be the main focus. It _is_ all about his adventures, after all. That said, I'll need some help coming up with some weirdness that he could encounter. It doesn't have to be anything ghostly, that's just what's being focused on at the moment. Thanks, and I hope you guys are patient with my random updates!

 **Edit:** I had to fix a plot hole. Whoops! This is what I get for writing this on no sleep.


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